Gov. Chris Christie announced this evening that he has submitted a plan to the state Legislature that would abolish the state Council on Affordable Housing by the end the August.

COAH’s functions are being transferred to the Department of Community Affairs. Its abolishment was recommended by two Christie task forces. Proposals that would abolish COAH and establish new rules governing the court-mandated availability of affordable-housing options has stalled in the Legislature.

In a statement accompanying the formal filing of the plan, the Christie administration says DCA assists local governments and operates federally and state funded affordable housing programs already.

“The purpose of this plan is to reduce the unnecessary complexity of affordable housing administration in New Jersey, lower the administrative costs associated with the present regulatory process and streamline the development of new housing projects,” said the statement.

The administration’s statement says that under the new approach, municipal development will be achieved through a predictable rule making process, that “local governments will be freed from the sometimes inconsistent directions” from COAH and DCA and that the state will save money by eliminating COAH’s separate full-time staff and payments to board members for meeting and travel.

“Placing the administration of affordable housing under the direction of the department will produce significant cost savings to state and local government taxpayers,” the statement said.

Christie filed five “reorganization plans” with the Department of State and the Office of Administrative Law. The Legislature has until Aug. 28 to disapprove of the moves if it wants to block them from taking effect.

As part of the other changes, the Department of State would become the home of the State Planning Commission and Office of Smart Growth, both now part of DCA, and the Business Retention and Attraction Division, now at the Economic Development Authority. All have connections with economic growth, which has become one of the primary responsibilities of Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who is also the secretary of state.

Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club, expressed concerns that Guadagno, who already heads Christie’s efforts to reduce government regulations, will become a “sprawl czar” able to help secure permits for developers.

“This reorg plan has been on the developers’ wish list for a long time,” Tittel said. “She’s already in charge of pushing out permits for developers, now she can do the same thing for developers. The idea is to basically turn the State Planning Commission and Office of Smart Growth into a rubber stamp for developers.”

The other changes move the Amistad Commission, which assists schools in teaching the history of slavery, from the Department of State to the Department of Education and eliminate the Commission on Higher Education, moving its functions to the recently established secretary of higher education.